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The Unbreakable Child  By  cover art

The Unbreakable Child

By: Kim Michele Richardson
Narrated by: Dara Brown
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Publisher's summary

The Unbreakable Child, a story about forgiving the unforgivable, is a riveting journey inside the secretive underbelly of the St. Thomas / St. Vincent Orphan Asylum in rural Kentucky. It is the first book in the United States to confront the institutionalized physical and emotional abuse suffered by countless orphans at the hands of Catholic clergy over these last decades. It also documents the historic United States lawsuit and first-ever settlement paid by Roman Catholic nuns in the United States as recompense for decades of brutal institutional abuse of the author, her sisters and 42 other children.

©2012 Kim Michele Richardson (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Unbreakable Child

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Hard to Imagine

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Kim Richardson went through some horrible things at the hands of the Catholic church. I find it so horrific when a religion uses its power in the name of God to cause such harm. I believe this woman did a service to all to share this story. The reason I gave it a lower rating is the over acting by the narrator. She is over the top on some of the vicious abuse scenes, and makes this story unbelievable. I would still recomend the story, it just could have been so much better.

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Reader Comments

Every survivor of child abuse must read this book. As a survivor of child abuse myself I can say that Kim Michele Richardson has captured in this book the true nature of child abuse and how it effects victims.

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4 people found this helpful

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incredible story, poorly written

The history of this woman's abuse is harrowing, and she tells that part of her story so well. On the other hand, the more recent events involved in the lawsuit are difficult to get through. Whether due to anti-disclosure agreements or the author's unwillingness to share certain aspects of the process, the proceedings of her case are disjointed and vague. She alludes to topics but avoids clarifying her meaning. In the listening, I had to check multiple times to be sure my app hadn't skipped over something. I didn't care for this particular writing technique, if it could be called that.

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Very emotional true story of abuse

Found myself needing to come back and listen every second I could. such a tragic start to life, but so much strength as an adult

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Unbreakable

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart. It is a story of one woman's resilience during her childhood in the face of horrific abuse at the hands of those who should have been protecting her. You will cry as you hear of the torture of the young girl, Kim, while in a Catholic orphanage run by nuns.
It is also a story of forgiveness and getting on with your life after such horrible events.

The book was a little hard to follow at times since it jumps from childhood memories to present times while the author is involved in a lawsuit against the Church. Even in the written book, this became confusing. The narrator did a pretty good job in her performance and added a lot to the audiobook.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Sad and True

Anyone who considers this story to be a gross exaggeration is one or more of many things including naive, arrogant, privileged lacking empathy, or has "head in the sand" mentality. My husband lived the horror of the orphanages in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I have to clap my hands over my ears when he mentions the abuse he survived, it's that terrible. It's every bit as bad as hearing about Viet Nam. One Kindle review stated that there was "regulation" that would have made this level of abuse impossible. No. There was very little regulation then. Society still had a lot of "children seen not heard" mentality.,
Since children are egocentric by nature, they do NOT tell on their caregivers. And...this was the era when many orphans were being sold.
All that being said, the book told the story in a very unbalanced way. The accounts of abuse became repetitive, and there was little else to the story for long stretches. This telling was, no doubt, cathartic for the author, but mind numbing for the reader. Narration tended to get faux dramatic, like bad acting or "chewing the scenery". It's a relief that some of the victims were sort of compensated, and abusers, though deceased, were exposed. But. The entire situation left me feeling helpless and depressed.
I am a retired social worker, and I know that our foster care system and CPS are sadly understaffed despite the presence of well meaning--and underpaid-- workers and foster parents. Still, there are horror stories, true stories, circulating,happening today. I hope books like this one inspire good people to take a closer look into how we really treat children in our society. It's too easy to believe someone else is doing a good job regulating a system that is ran on a frightfully low budget.

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Not her best work

This book had me confused and lost. the story is heartbreaking, the writing lacks interest

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AMAZING

Great book!!! Narrator did a very good job. I had to buy head phones so i could listen to it at work

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Catholic Church should admit that they are cons

These victims are doubly harmed; first by the people who physically, sexually, and emotionally abused them, and secondly by the Catholic Church’s successful cover of the abusive priests and nuns. I understand that this was a story about the truth of one victim, and I don’t challenge her experience. I am just so angry that organized religion gets away with the destruction of individuals, civil rights, cultures, governments, and basically anything they touch. Religion is one of the roots of all evils.

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1 person found this helpful

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Kim's Courage

I can't believe the courage of this writer. Having endured almost a decade of horrible abuse at the hands of those who were entrusted to love and take care of her, Kim has courageously written her story. While closureis rarely an option for young abuse victims in adulthood, her story, her life, led her to a place of empowerment for her voice, her sisters' voices, and hopefully the voices of so many victims and survivors. Very well written. I highly recommend this book!

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